| Abstract
| - Thermal curing of the silver(I)-containing poly(amicacid) formed from 3,3‘,4,4‘-benzophenone tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (BTDA) and 4,4‘-oxydianiline(4,4‘-ODA) in dimethylacetamide leads both to polyimide films via cyclodehydration and toreduction of silver(I)giving a metallized surface. The resulting metallized compositefilms retain mechanicaland thermal properties similar to those of the parent polyimide.Variation of the silver(I)additive and concentration and the thermal cure cycle allows thefabrication of silver layerswhich are both reflective and/or electrically conductive.Silver(I) trifluoroacetate andpentafluoropropanoate give excellent silvered films; however, higherperfluoroalkanoatessuch as silver(I) heptafluorobutanoate give films which are poorlysurface metallized andextensively bubbled. X-ray diffraction shows crystallineface-centered cubic silver in thefilms after thermal curing. Microscopy data show that the surfaceparticle sizes are in therange of ca. 100−500 nm. Significant silver remains in the bulkof the polyimide film withvarying particle sizes generally less than ca. 15 nm. The interiorof the metallized films isnot electrically conducting. Films were characterized by X-raydiffraction, differentialscanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectronspectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomicforce microscopy.
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